Calf roping is a sport where a rider on horseback chase a call throwing a loop of rope over the calf's head. Team calf roping is a sport where a pair of riders on horseback chase a calf or steer with one rider throwing a loop of rope over the calf's head and the other throwing a loop around one or both hind legs. While roping is a popular sport it is difficult to practice the skills required to successfully compete. Both the livestock being roped and the horses ridden to rope them are in limited supply, and require frequent rest. Repeatedly roping livestock over a short period can also injure the animal. A considerable fenced area is required as well for live training, and so it is essentially not practical to use live animals for extensive roping practice of the kind necessary to develop winning skills.
For that reason roping training and practice devices have been developed which provide a dummy calf's head to rope. The simplest of these are simply a head on a stake which can be inserted into a bale in a desired orientation for roping. A problem with these simple devices, and also with live animal training, is that the roper must approach the dummy or live calf to remove the loop after a successful throw. Thus roping training devices were developed that allowed the roper to pull the loop off the dummy after a successful throw by allowing the horns on the dummy to fold upward or rearward so that the loop slips over the horns and can be retrieved by the roper. Such devices are disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,364,570 to Hallum, 3,066,939 to Sprout, and 6,497,411 to Nelson. These devices however do not realistically simulate an actual calf roping event where the loop is thrown over the calf's head and falls down its neck.
Western rodeo events have spawned devices designed for amusement and entertainment. For example the “mechanical bull” is a popular attraction at fairs, night clubs, and the like. A dummy bull is mounted on an activation mechanism which moves and turns the dummy to simulate an actual bull ride. The speed of movement can be varied and people ride the bull to the amusement of the spectators and themselves. It is contemplated that a calf roping training and practice device could be of such a design that same could similarly be used for amusement and entertainment.